DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Jan. 7, 2019 – Marvol Barnard, a Class A member of both the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and the PGA of America, has been elected as National President of the LPGA Professionals division in a vote by the members.

Barnard, who is Director of Instruction at Haven Golf Course in Green Valley, Ariz., and Director of Player Development at The Club at Las Campanas in Santa Fe, N.M., will work alongside fellow teacher Dr. Alison Curdt, who has been voted in as the LPGA Professioanls National Vice President. Barnard and Curdt started their three-year terms in office on Jan. 1, 2019.

"It is the honor of my professional life to have been recently elected as the next National President of the LPGA Professionals," Barnard said. "From the moment I joined this organization in 2002, I have been so inspired by my fellow members and by our leadership and staff, and so to be elected to this position is really a tremendous privilege. I really think there has never been a better or more exciting time to be a woman in the golf industry, and there are so many wonderful possibilities ahead for all of us. Alison and I look very forward to serving our members and continuing to build on the growth and success of all the past leaders who have made the LPGA Professionals such a strong and vibrant women's organization."

Barnard, who served three terms as President of the LPGA Central Section, joined the LPGA in 2002 and became a Class A member in 2006. She has piled up an impressive array of accolades and achievements over the years, including the LPGA Marilynn Smith Service Award in 2014 and the LPGA Nancy Lopez Golf Achievement Award in 2013. Barnard was honored as the LPGA's National Teacher of the Year in 2016 and listed among the LPGA Top-50 Best Teachers for 2017-2018. She was included as one of Golf Digest's 50 Best Women Teachers in 2012.

One of southern Arizona's most accomplished instructors, Barnard was the recipient of the PGA's Southwest Section Player Development Award in 2013 and 2017, and the PGA's Southwest Section Southern Chapter Player Development Award in 2015 and 2016.

In 2018, she received the National PGA Player Development Award, an honor that bestows special recognition on a PGA member who has displayed “extraordinary and exemplary contribution and achievement” in player development. The award was given during the PGA's Annual Meeting in Indian Wells, California in November.

Dr. Curdt, who has more than 29 years of golf competition background, turned professional in 2004 and moved to Palm Springs, Calif., to begin her teaching and professional playing career. She is currently the Director of Instruction at Alison Curdt Golf at Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley, California, where she oversees all programs related to men, women and juniors while also running, coordinating and teaching camps and clinics.

A two-time Academic All American at Florida State University where she attained degrees in psychology and professional golf management, Dr. Curdt last year celebrated a rare double when she became just the second person to earn Master Professional status with both the LPGA T&CP and the PGA of America. She was voted by her LPGA peers as the Western Section Teacher of the Year in 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2018. In 2015, Dr. Curdt was honored as the LPGA's National Teacher of the Year.

About the LPGA Professionals

The LPGA Professionals membership (formerly the LPGA Teaching and Club Professional membership), founded in 1959 as an outgrowth of the LPGA Tour, boasts the largest membership of women golf professionals in the world. LPGA Professionals members are certified as golf instructors, coaches and business managers through a comprehensive curriculum designed to meet the changing needs of the golfing public.

More than 1,700 strong, LPGA Professionals members are dedicated to the advancement of golf and serve throughout the golf industry as head professionals, assistant professionals, teaching professionals, directors of golf, owners of golf schools and facilities, golf administrators, college and high school coaches and more. LPGA Professionals members support the LPGA’s various grassroots programs that were created to involve women and youth in golf as well as contribute to the overall growth of the sport. These include LPGA*USGA Girls Golf, LPGA Tour Junior Clinics, the LPGA Lesson Zone and LPGA Golf 101 programs. The LPGA is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Barnard elected LPGA Professionals National President, Curdt chosen as Vice President

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